I just sprung for a Fein Turbo II Wet/Dry vac. (They’re on sale for under $300 at a number of places, though not at Rockler. That’s cheaper than my other choice, the Porter-Cable 7812.) It’s nicely built, feels like quality, and is very quiet. My questions are these:

1. It came with a short rubber tube identified as a “Joint 36/36” in the very spare instructions. Does anyone know what this is for?

2. The vac will accept a cartridge filter just below the motor. Is it important to have this for general sawdust cleanup?

3. How important is it to supplement the cloth bag with paper bags?

Thanks!

3 replies so far

Only a partial response, I have 2 Feins…both are the older models, one a T1, the other a T3. I think that piece you ask about may be something mine didn’t have…they are both the old tank design. On both mine I use a filter. I found that cloth bag to be useless, it takes up so much room in the tank that it reduces the holding capacity (gave mine away to a another woodworker who had one fall apart). I seriously doubt you could get a bag into the tank with the cloth filter in place (unless the new ones are a lot smaller than mine was). My T1 came with a Fein filter, and I’m still using it. The T3 came only with the cloth filter bag, and I found the Fein filters to be fairly expensive. Plus Fein told me (on the phone) the recommend using a bag with their filter to protect it. Bullcrap, I wasn’t going to screw with that. I bought a Gore Cleanstream, the one red stripe one for Craftsman vacs, and it fit the Fein perfectly. There is a bolt hole on the bottom you would need to cover with duct tape, but it’s much more robust and has a HEPA like filtering quality. I still do use bags though, especially when sanding drywall. I found the Shop Vac bags fit as well, at least in the older style tank. I love both mine, and highly recommend them, but with the Gore Cleanstrem filter.

The cloth bag is 5 micron, which is generally not going to be good enough for fine dust, eg hooking up to a sander. You really want 1 micron filtration or even better, 0.3 (HEPA).

I got the 1 micron cartridge for it, and Fein recommends that you not use the 5 micron cloth bag and the cartridge filter together. So I use the disposable bags with the 1 micron cartridge filter. They are pretty expensive, so unless you want to keep buying them, a pre-separator is important (eg Dust Deputy or Dust Right Vortex). This keeps most dust and debris in the separator and only the finest dust gets to the disposable bag. Absolutely nothing (and I mean NOTHING) on the cartridge filter or in the vac’s tank. This sort of a setup ensures no loss of suction and that the motor will last as long as possible.

-- Optimists are usually disappointed. Pessimists are either right or pleasantly surprised. I tend to be a disappointed pessimist.

The rubber tube I have used between the hose and my sander I used at the time kinda like a universal adapter. The Fein II were my first vacs and I have 2 of them sitting in storage now and should get rid of them. They are very good and quiet…. You will enjoy it for many years to come just keep it clean check your filters. I went with festool sanders and vacs and have not looked back…